[the OlLine Rebel]

http://www.madrazo.org/steelers/miscpost/br7xltd.jpg

[Richard Kimball]

If you'll look through my original posts, I never questioned the TD call. I stated that the referee made it a controversy by running in signaling that he was short, and that he was marking the ball down, then changing the call to a touchdown. It was obvious that the referee did not see the initial touchdown. If he had, he should have immediately blown the whistle because the play was over. He did not blow the whistle until Roth hit the ground. After Roth shoved the ball over the line, he signaled touchdown. He missed the TD that happened, and signaled a TD that didn't happen.

The offensive pass interference call was bad because the referee wasn't going to call it, then changed his mind after lobbying by the Pittsburgh player. It would have been a ticky tacky call anyway, but standing there after the play, listening to the d-back, and THEN pulling out the flag makes it look like you're taking direction from the players. I don't think the game was "fixed", I think it was very poorly officiated. The calls were inconsistent, and not uniformly enforced. The confusion on the part of the referees made the officiating look even worse, ala the touchdown call and the hesitation on the pass interference call.